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MOGADISHU - Gunmen fired rockets near Mogadishu's airport on Wednesday, witnesses said, apparently targeting African Union peacekeepers who have started arriving to help the interim government restore order.
Hospital sources said one civilian was killed and at least four others wounded when insurgents launched rockets and grenades at a white AU armoured car and two trucks carrying Ethiopian soldiers, loyal to the government.
A senior AU official said no peacekeepers were hurt.
A witness said AU troops returned fire after two rocket-propelled grenades were launched at them, hitting a nearby restaurant.
The explosions lit up the dusk sky and tracer bullets fired by the Ethiopians flashed overhead. Government troops based nearby also opened fire, witnesses said.
The interim government and its Ethiopian allies, who helped it defeat rival Islamists late last year, have been hit by almost daily guerrilla attacks in the coastal city.
Several hundred Ugandan troops arrived in Mogadishu this week as the vanguard of an African Union peacekeeping force.
The Ugandans were the first peacekeepers to arrive in Mogadishu since a US and UN operation ended in failure in 1995 after relentless street battles with local militias forced them to finally withdraw.
- REUTERS
